Tuukka Taponen, 18, again to medal positions in formulas – with Finland’s F1 promise, a wild resume | Sports in a nutshell

Tuukka Taponen reached the top three in the European Formula Regional series.

Finland Tuukka Taponen finished third in the European Formula Regional series. However, the 18-year-old driver got to worry about his overall ranking in the final race of the season on Sunday.

Taponen was stuck in seventh place on the Monza track for a long time, until he had to suffer as a substitute in Brazil by Pedro Clerot and the USA Ugo Ugochukwu’s crash. Taponen’s R-ace GP car was damaged and the Finn had to stop.

At the same time, French Alessandro Giusti Brazil came second in the race Rafael Camara top spot. If Giusti had won the race, he would have passed Taponen to second place in the series. However, Camara held his ground, so the Finn is third in the overall race.

The championship was won by Camara, who, like Tapones, who is a year younger, belongs to Ferrari’s young driver academy. A year ago, the Australian was kicked out of Ferrari’s academy James Wharton was second overall.

Awesome resume

It’s another year for Tapos in small formulas. The displays have been hard and, above all, flat.

He started his formula career in 2023 in the Middle East F4 series, second only to Wharton. In the same year in Italian F4, he had difficulties, but the Finn was still fifth in the final points.

At the beginning of this year, Taponen made a splash by winning the Middle East Formula Regional series by a landslide. He won five races.

In the European series of that category, the displays have also been convincing. In the summer, the Finn had a wonderful streak of three wins. There were a total of four first places and a total of seven podium places.

Even before the little formulas, Taponen’s resume was great. In karting, he won, among other things, one world championship and no less than three World Championship medals. He has been in the Ferrari Academy for two years now.

The formula career of Taponen, who turned 18 on Saturday, will continue next year in the top Formula 3 teams in the ranks of ART. The car from the team in question has won championships in both the F3 and F2 series.

In November, he will compete in the ranks of R-ace GP in the traditional F3 invitational race in Macau, China.

Updated 5:27 p.m.: Completed the story and edited the title